Family & Fatherhood

My Father: The Chairman of the Board

My father never, ever gave me any specific advice about music. He made it clear to me at a fairly young age that he wanted me to figure things out for myself. Of course, when you're looking for work, it's a little easier when your last name is Sinatra. But he always told me that if I wanted to work in show business, it was going to be uphill all my life. "When you think you're coasting," he said, "that's when you're going downhill."

He taught me how to fake a bunt by opening my stance. And he taught me how to throw a split-fingered fastball by putting just two fingertips on top of the ball and the rest on the side. The fake bunt worked better.

He was never a 51 percenter. If he was in, he was all in. My father knew a lot of exceptional people on both ends of the spectrum--the good and the bad. But anyone who worked with him or was friends with him always had the luxury of knowing that he was never half committed.

He wasn't big on nostalgia. On one of our last tours together, he and I were getting ready to play an auditorium somewhere, and for some reason, I started thinking back on Danny Kaye. I'd seen him perform here with Sinatra when I was a kid. (I've always called him Sinatra when referring to him professionally. At home, he was Dad.) And at rehearsal, for the first time ever, I took a walk onto the stage by myself and just looked around, and different things started coming back to me. Sinatra walked by and said, "Hey…what are you doing?" I said, "Dad, for the first time, I'm having the experience of looking back 40 years at my life." And he said, "Boy, are you in for a few surprises."

Women? Sinatra would have been the last person I would have taken advice from about women.

Frank Sinatra Jr., 64, is a singer, songwriter, and conductor, as well as an actor who has been on The Sopranos and Family Guy . He has one son, Mike. Interview by Corey Seymour.